The Natural - Whatever Criteria, You Pick Florida

You will not be wrong. For not since California in the 1950s has such a vast untapped well of territorial and demographic resources been available to a professional sporting franchise.

As the National League prepares to announce its two expansion teams this summer, it is no accident that Florida cities constitute half of the six sites on the league`s short list.

``I think it is extremely unlikely that Florida will be bypassed,`` said Stephen Porter, who with S. Joel Schur is the prospective owner of the Tampa- St. Petersburg franchise. But will the NL ram its league banner on the statehouse grounds in Tallahassee and declare the entire state its own?

Florida has remained virgin territory to Major League Baseball despite having the fourth-largest population base. Add that Miami, Tampa-St. Petersburg and Orlando each are in the Top 25 in TV households, and you have numbers that make league owners and officials salivate. In both leagues. The American League is aware there are a few people south of Atlanta. Thus, it could get nasty if the AL vetoes a possible move into two Florida cities.

Should that happen, detente between the Sun Coast and the Gold Coast would wither. The positive news of recent months has turned the us-vs.-them mentality so prevalent a year ago into a statewide sense of invincibility.

Tampa-St. Pete once felt this by itself as the national media trumpeted it as ``can`t miss,`` along with Denver. But the NL expansion committee`s shunning of Frank Morsani, who led the Tampa Bay charge for 10 years, and uncertainity over the financing of the dome renovations have some in the Bay Area nervous.

``I am not trying to be cute when I say I consider everybody our main competition,`` Porter said. ``We are very aware that we are newcomers.``

Porter and Schur co-own the Class A St. Petersburg Cardinals but lack the Morsani`s bravado. When asked if the group can afford the $95 million franchise entry fee, Porter said: ``It is inappropriate for me to discuss with the media the present details of a deal that`s yet to be announced. Why don`t you direct the question to the National League office?

``We read the rules. I believe Major League Baseball believes we are capable.``

``They are quality people,`` Selig told the St. Petersburg Times last summer. ``They are the kind of people you`d like to have own a baseball team.``

If the NL committee decides not to look toward St. Petersburg, South Florida has a formidable opponent in a place that heretofore had not been taken very seriously.

Orlando`s hopes, which seemingly faded when William duPont III stepped aside in the summer, were revived in September. Amway Corp. President Richard DeVos, whose net worth has been estimated at $1.3 billion, assumed control, but questions have surfaced about his corporation`s background.

Most prominent was a series of customs violations in Canada over a 10-year period that resulted in Amway`s 1983 plea of guilty. A Canadian court described the machinations as a ``web of deception,`` but in 1989, a settlement was reached that was ``acceptable to the company,`` according to Amway spokesperson Kim Bruyn.

Pat Williams, who enticed DeVos to join the group, continues to be the quintessential optimist. During the NBA All-Star Game, he was telling people he expected two Florida teams -- one in Orlando.

And look at Williams` idea for the franchise`s downtown stadium, which would be funded by a penny resort tax: